There are various ways to keep your fall harvest lasting long into the winter months. Different foods each have their way to be best kept. Historically, keeping food for long months was necessary to survive. In one respect, that hasn't changed. We want to survive WELL, remain healthy, and enjoy what we eat, not have to work too hard and have it all make sense in our modern times.

People are busier nowadays, but not necessarily with making food. Most of the average person's time is consumed by other activities, which makes the preserving of our own food an activity that must fit into our lifestyle. Since there are so many lifestyles, you will need to pick and choose what methods are best for you. Here is a list of some of the ways to preserve a harvest so you can use it all year round.

• Succession planting outdoors
• Succession planting in the greenhouse
• Succession planting in pots indoors
• Grow-lite tabletop systems
• Heated greenhouses
• Drying
• Canning
• Pickling
• Cool storage
• Freezing
• In ground storage (in garden under mulch)
• Indoor hydroponics
• Plant choices
• Cold frames

I hope I haven't forgotten anything. Here & at 4seasongreenhouse.com, the emphasis is on expanding your choices of how you will extend your growing season. Of course, the best and most thorough way to do that is by growing year round in a greenhouse, either in soil beds or using hydroponics. Some of the older, tried and true methods are still valid for certain lifestyles, but if you are going to set out to learn the best methods of preserving a harvest today, we highly recommend growing year round over other methods, such as canning and drying.

Fresh is always best, for many reasons. The best reason is flavor - its why we garden in the first place. You can go to the store and buy what is needed to stay alive, but does it make you happy? If you are a gardener at heart, or a vegan looking for the ultimate in nutrition and taste, or concerned about how food gets to your table, or just want the convenience of growing it in your own backyard, then growing your own food to sustain you and your family is your best option.

I happen to know how to 'can' tomatoes (they taste mighty good in the dead of winter) and make green jeans out of green beans and dry fruit and vegetables in a dryer, make my own raisins, etc. This summer I put some ears of corn and some packages of green beans from the garden into the freezer to enjoy later. I am not going to be able to have them growing here during the blizzard season, so that was my best choice for those vegetables.

Some vegetables are not worth freezing or canning or drying. Asparagus will 'can' and freeze, but who wants to eat it that way? I simply choose to wait for the proper season for Aparagus to be available fresh to enjoy it's flavor. Since drying herbs and using them in recipes is still necessary, I dry some, and have some longer in fresh form. And winter squash will keep in a cellar, as will some varieties of apples, spuds, onions, etc. So planting the varieties you know will store well in this way is one way of preserving the harvest into the winter. But if that is not how you want to do it, you still have plenty of options.

Emily's Garden Hydroponic System

4 seasongreenhouse.com offers books on the subjects of Greenhouse Gardening and Hydroponics. A good basic primer is going to be very helpful. You won't be able to remember it all or need to utilize it all at once, so having a reference is just logical.

There are excellent reference books on any method you wish to use. The older methods will be available in most public libraries.

Looking forward to a brighter future for all of us on Mother Earth!